When a phase is born

摘要

Phase changes in matter generally occur by building up from small nuclei of the new phase. Scattering experiments and computer simulations reveal the characteristic size of the smallest of these nuclei. Rain and snowfall, petroleum refining and the purification of Pharmaceuticals by crystallization are examples of natural and industrial processes that involve a phase transition, Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying these ubiquitous events is therefore of widespread interest. Writing in Journal of Physical Chemistry B, Albert C. Pan and colleagues suggest a novel way of measuring the characteristic size of the smallest building-block of a new phase that can grow spontaneously, and show how this quantity changes across thermodynamic conditions ranging from metastability to instability.